So, here's what's happening with Dell Technologies Inc. (DELL) stock. It was up nicely on Wednesday, gaining over 3.5% as investors positioned themselves for the company's fourth-quarter earnings report. That report is due out after the market closes on Thursday, February 26.
Wall Street has its expectations set. Analysts are looking for earnings per share to come in at $3.44, with quarterly revenue hitting $31.77 billion. That's a pretty big number, and it follows a third quarter where Dell managed to beat estimates, reporting $2.59 per share against a forecast of $2.39. Not a huge beat, but a beat nonetheless. The market will be watching to see if that trend continues.
A Server Built for the Great Outdoors
While everyone was watching the stock ticker, Dell was busy making a product announcement. On Wednesday, the company pulled the curtain back on the Dell PowerEdge XR9700. This isn't your average server that sits in a nice, cool, clean data center. This thing is built for the edge—literally.
It's a rugged, liquid-cooled server designed specifically to run Cloud RAN (that's Radio Access Network) and edge AI workloads in outdoor environments. Think less "temperature-controlled server room" and more "mounted on a utility pole in a snowstorm." It's rated IP66, which means it's seriously protected against dust and powerful water jets, and it's a zero-footprint system. It can operate in a brutal temperature range from -40°C to 46°C (-40°F to about 115°F).
Under the hood, it's powered by Intel Corp.'s (INTC) Xeon 6 SoC processors, which come with Intel vRAN Boost and AMX technologies. Dell says it can support up to 15 5G sectors from a single server.
"Operators and enterprises shouldn't have to compromise when deploying compute in challenging environments," said Andrew Vaz, vice president at Dell Technologies. "The Dell PowerEdge XR9700 brings Cloud RAN, Open RAN, and edge AI capabilities to places they've never been able to go before, opening up new possibilities for network expansion and edge applications."
The server has already caught the eye of some major players. Rakuten Mobile plans a nationwide deployment across Japan. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (SSNLF) also sees potential. "Dell PowerEdge XR9700 offers a promising pathway to further expand our vRAN to challenging edge environments," said Ji-Yun Seol, executive vice president at Samsung. The server is slated to be available globally, but you'll have to wait a bit—it's not coming until the second half of 2026.
How the Market Sees Dell
So, with the stock moving and a new product on the horizon, where does Dell stand in the eyes of the market? A look at some common market metrics paints a mixed picture.
In terms of valuation, the stock is sitting in a neutral position. Its Value Rank score comes in at 39.16, which suggests it's not screamingly cheap, but it's not wildly overpriced either—it's just kind of in the middle of the pack.
The momentum picture, however, is less rosy. Dell's Momentum Rank is classified as weak, with a score of 25.81. This essentially means that, even with Wednesday's pop, the stock has been underperforming the broader market recently. It's a reminder that a single-day gain doesn't necessarily change a longer-term trend.
As of publication on Wednesday, Dell Technologies shares were up 3.54% at $124.02.
